Accessibility - Our Commitment

At Bolton Supermarkets Limited, operating as Bonanza Gardens (“Bonanza”), we are committed to excellence in serving our customers which includes providing accessible customer service to persons with disabilities. This Policy affirms Bonanza’s commitment to providing goods and services to our customers in a way that respects their independence, dignity, integration and rights of equal opportunity and access.

Assistive Devices

Persons with disabilities are permitted to use their own assistive devices to obtain, use or benefit from Bonanza’s goods or services. We will ensure that our staff are trained and familiar with various assistive devices we have on site or that we provide that may be used by customers with disabilities while accessing our goods or services. It is the responsibility of the person to ensure that his or her assistive device is operated in a safe and controlled manner at all times.

Communication

Bonanza management and staff will communicate with persons with disabilities in ways that take the person’s disability into account.

Support Persons and Service Animals

We at Bonanza welcome customers with disabilities as well as their support person and/or service animals. Where a person is accompanied by a support person, Bonanza management and staff must work with both the person with a disability and the support person to ensure equal access to goods and services.

Bonanza management and staff must permit persons accompanied by a service animal to enter Bonanza premises with the animal and to keep the animal with him or her, except in those areas in which the animal is excluded by law. When an animal is excluded from an area by law, Bonanza management or staff will provide personal assistance during the visit to assist the customer to access the goods or services in the restricted area.

Accessible Emergency Information

Bonanza is committed to providing our customers and employees with publicly available emergency information in an accessible format upon request. We will also provide employees with disabilities individualized emergency response information when necessary.

Notice of Temporary Disruption

In the event of a planned or unexpected disruption to services or facilities for customers with disabilities, Bonanza will notify customers promptly. This clearly posted notice will include information about the reason for the disruption, its anticipated length of time and a description of alternative facilities or services, if available.

Training

Bonanza provides accessible customer service training to all managers, staff, volunteers and others who deal with the public or other third parties on our behalf. Training will also be provided to people involved in the development of policies, plans, practices and procedures related to the provision of our goods and services.

Training is provided to staff before or as soon as possible after the staff person commences job duties that involve interacting with the public or other third parties. Revised training will be provided in the event of changes to legislation, or changes to Bonanza procedures and/or practices regarding accessible customer service.

Training will include:

An overview of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and the requirements of the customer service standard

Bonanza’s accessible customer service plan

How to interact and communicate with people with various types of disabilities

How to interact with people with disabilities who use an assistive device or require the assistance of a service animal or a support person

How to use the equipment or devices available on-site or otherwise that may help with providing goods or services to people with disabilities

What to do if a person with a disability is having difficulty in accessing Bonanza’s goods and services

Staff will also be trained when changes are made to our accessible customer service plan.

Feedback Process

Bonanza Gardens welcomes feedback on how we provide accessible customer service. Customer feedback will help us identify barriers and respond to concerns.

Bonanza Gardens will communicate with persons with disabilities in a manner that respects their dignity and independence in accordance with the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation’s Information and Communications Standards.

Upon request, Bonanza Gardens will provide, or will arrange for the provision of accessible formats and communication supports for persons with disabilities in a timely manner that takes into account the person’s accessibility needs due to disability. Bonanza Gardens will consult with the person making the request in determining the suitability of an accessible format or communication support.

Bonanza Gardens will make sure our feedback process is accessible to people with disabilities by providing or arranging for accessible formats and communication supports, on request.

Customers and members of the public who wish to provide feedback on the way in which Bonanza Gardens provides goods, services or facilities to people with disabilities can provide feedback in the following ways:

All feedback, including complaints, will be handled by the Financial Controller.

Customers can expect to hear back within 30 days of receipt.

Notice of Availability

Bonanza Gardens shall notify customers that the documents related to the Accessibility Standard for Customer Service are available upon request. Notification will be given by posting the information in a conspicuous area in all premises owned and/or operated by Bonanza Gardens and/or any other reasonable method.

Bonanza Gardens will provide this document in an accessible format or with communication support, on request. We will consult with the person making the request to determine the suitability of the format or communication support. We will provide the accessible format in a timely manner and, at no additional cost.

Modifications to this Policy

Bonanza is committed to developing customer service policies that respect and promote the dignity and independence of people with disabilities. Any policy, practice or procedure of Bonanza that does not respect and promote the principles of dignity, independence, integration and equal opportunity for people with disabilities will be modified or removed.

Recruitment & Employment

We will ensure that every person with a disability has an equal opportunity with respect to recruiting, hiring, career development, performance management, advancement and redeployment, without discrimination, and receives accommodations where required, in accordance with the Code and AODA.

Training

Bonanza Gardens will ensure all employees, students, persons participating in the development and approval of Bonanza Gardens’s policies, and others who provide goods, services or facilities on behalf of Bonanza Gardens are trained on:

AODA and the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation;

the Code as it relates to people with disabilities; and

Bonanza Gardens’s policies and plans thereunder.

Training will be appropriate to the duties performed by the individual. Training will be provided as soon as practicable after an individual begins working, volunteering or otherwise providing services necessitating training. Bonanza Gardens will ensure that training is provided on any changes to relevant policies on an ongoing basis.

Training records specifying when training was done and how many employees took the training are kept and maintained. The Accessibility training record can be made available in an accessible format and communication supports provided upon request.

Recruitment, Assessment or Selection Process

Bonanza Gardens will ensure that job postings specify that accommodation is available for applicants with disabilities during the recruitment and interview/assessment processes

Bonanza Gardens will train its staff involved in recruitment and hiring to notify job applicants, when they are individually selected to participate further in an assessment or selection process that accommodations are available upon request in relation to the materials or processes to be used.

During the phone screening process, Bonanza Gardens informs applicants that accommodation is available. If a selected applicant requests an accommodation, Bonanza Gardens will consult with the applicant and provide, or arrange for the provisions of, a suitable accommodation in a manner that takes into account the applicant’s accessibility needs due to disability.

Notice to Successful Applicants

When making offers of employment, Bonanza Gardens will notify the successful applicant of its policies for accommodating employees with disabilities, as well as information on where and how to obtain copies of such policies, including in accessible formats.

Informing Employees of Supports

Bonanza Gardens will inform its employees of its policies (and any updates to those policies) used to support employees with disabilities. Such policies include, but are not limited to: the Individual Accommodation Plan Policy, the Return to Work Policy, and the Emergency Evacuation Policy. This information will be provided to new employees as soon as practicable after they commence employment with Bonanza Gardens.

Accessible Formats and Communication Supports for Employees

Upon the request of an employee with a disability, Bonanza Gardens will consult with the employee to provide, or arrange for the provision of, accessible formats and communication supports for information that is needed to perform his/her job, and information that is generally available to other employees. In determining the suitability of an accessible format or communication support, Bonanza Gardens will consult with the employee making the request.

Workplace Emergency Response Information

Bonanza Gardens will provide individualized workplace emergency response information to employees who have a disability, if the disability is such that the individualized information is necessary, and if Bonanza Gardens is aware of the need for accommodation due to the employee’s disability. Bonanza Gardens will provide this information as soon as practicable after becoming aware of the need for accommodation

Where the employee requires assistance, Bonanza Gardens will, with the consent of the employee, provide the workplace emergency response information to the person designated by Bonanza Gardens to provide assistance to the employee.

Documented Individual Accommodation Plans

Bonanza Gardens has a process for developing individual accommodation plans for employees that require accommodation in the workplace as set out in the Individual Accommodation Plan Policy.

If requested, information regarding accessible formats and communications supports provided will also be included in individual accommodation plans.

Return to Work Process

Bonanza Gardens is committed to safely returning employees who have been absent from the workplace to work, with or without accommodation, at the earliest opportunity. To do so, Bonanza Gardens has developed the Return to Work Policy. This return to work process will not replace or override any other return to work process created by or under any other statute (i.e., the Workplace Safety Insurance Act, 1997).